India's ambitious ethanol blending programme (EBP) launched in 2013-14 has now reached in all the states of the country with Sikkim becoming the last state join EBP this week.

C Sridhar Goud, executive director at HPCL, revealed this at a webinar organised by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) on Friday.

India has set the ambitious target of blending 20% ethanol in petrol by 2025. “In the present ethanol supply year (ESY) that runs from December to November, we have achieved 7.89% blending and by the end of November, are likely to hit 8.1% to 8.2% blending,” Goud said.

On the projections of ethanol procurement by OMCs for 2021-22 ESY, he said, “As petrol sales in the country have gone back to the prepandemic levels, ethanol uptake will continue to prepandemic levels or might increase. The ethanol demand for next year will be presented accordingly.”

OMCs have been looking at alternatives to transport of ethanol by road. They have started using pipelines and railways takes and are exploring option of coast shipping. “By 2025, we may need 400000 truck movements in a year to transport ethanol by road and we do not want to do it this way,” Gaud said.